Method and apparatus for recognizing characters

ABSTRACT

A method and an apparatus for recognizing characters using an image are provided. A camera is activated according to a character recognition request and a preview mode is set for displaying an image photographed through the camera in real time. An auto focus of the camera is controlled and an image having a predetermined level of clarity is obtained for character recognition from the images obtained in the preview mode. The image for character recognition is character-recognition-processed so as to extract recognition result data. A final recognition character row is drawn that excludes non-character data from the recognition result data. A first word is combined including at least one character of the final recognition character row and a predetermined maximum number of characters. A dictionary database that stores dictionary information on various languages using the first word is searched, so as to provide the user with the corresponding word.

PRIORITY

This application is a Continuation Application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/658,319, which was filed in the U.S. Patent andTrademark Office on Oct. 23, 2012, which is a Continuation Applicationof U.S. Pat. No. 8,320,681, which issued on Nov. 27, 2012, and claimspriority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) to Korean Patent Applications entitled“Method and Apparatus for Recognizing Characters” filed in the KoreanIntellectual Property Office on Jun. 19, 2008 and Dec. 4, 2008, andassigned Serial Nos. 10-2008-0058069 and 10-2008-0122637, the contentsof each of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a method and an apparatus forrecognizing characters, and more particularly, to a method and anapparatus for recognizing characters using a camera.

2. Description of the Related Art

As electronic technology has developed, portable terminals, such asmobile communication terminals, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), andportable game devices, have been incorporated with various functions inaddition to their one or two exclusive functions. For example, inaddition to a device required for a communication function, mobilecommunication terminals may also include a digital camera or a musicfile reproducing device, so as to provide the user with a photographingfunction or a music reproducing function. Further, such added devicesare linked with other applications, so as to provide various functions.For example, portable terminals including a camera may also provide acharacter recognition function using a still image when linked with acharacter recognition application.

Generally, a portable terminal including a camera generates and stores astill image for character recognition, and a character recognitionapplication then reads the stored still image so as to perform characterrecognition. The recognized result can be used in another application.Specifically, character recognition may be used to omit complicatedprocesses, such as character key input by the user. Characterrecognition may also be used to input a character that cannot be inputthrough the keys included in the portable terminal, or to inputcharacters of which the user is not aware.

However, the conventional character recognition method fails to rapidlyrecognize consecutive words in real time because the user presses ashutter to take a picture of a character, obtains a still image from thephotographed result, and then performs character recognition processing.In this respect, if there are many characters to be recognized, a methodfor efficiently and rapidly performing the character recognition andproviding the recognition result is needed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made to address at least the aboveproblems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantagesdescribed below. Accordingly, an aspect of the present inventionprovides a method and an apparatus for recognizing characters, whichrapidly recognizes a plurality of characters in real time and providesthe user with the recognized result when the user recognizes thecharacters using a camera.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a method is providedfor recognizing a character in a character recognizing apparatus. Acamera is activated in accordance with a character recognition requestand a preview mode is set for displaying one or more images photographedthrough the camera in real time. An auto focus of the camera iscontrolled and an image having a predetermined level of clarity isobtained for character recognition from the images obtained in thepreview mode as an image. The image for character recognition ischaracter-recognition-processed so as to extract recognition resultdata. A final recognition character row is drawn that excludesnon-character data from the recognition result data.

The method for recognizing a character may further include activatingthe camera in accordance with the character recognition request andsetting a preview mode that displays one or more images photographedthrough the camera in real time, detecting a character from the imagefor character recognition, and obtaining the preview image firstdisplayed through the preview mode if no character exists or detectingif movement of the character recognizing apparatus by the user exists ifa character exists.

The method for recognizing a character may further include obtaining thepreview image first displayed through the preview mode if movement ofthe character recognizing apparatus exists, and controlling an autofocus of the camera if no movement exists and obtaining an image havinga predetermined level of clarity from the images obtained in the previewmode as an image for character recognition.

The method for recognizing a character may further include combining afirst word including the character of the final recognition characterrow and the predetermined maximum number of characters and searchingdictionary database storing dictionary information on various languagesusing the first word, so as to provide the user with the correspondingword.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will be more apparent from the following detailed descriptionwhen taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the construction of a characterrecognizing apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of a characterrecognizing apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of controlling the autofocus function of a character recognizing apparatus according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a dictionary searching procedureaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a dictionary searching procedureaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of a characterrecognizing apparatus according to another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of determining theexistence of the character according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of determining theexistence of movement according to an embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a result applied with the characterdetection and movement detection according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are described in detailwith reference to the accompanying drawings. The same or similarcomponents may be designated by the same or similar reference numeralsalthough they are illustrated in different drawings. Detaileddescriptions of constructions or processes known in the art may beomitted to avoid obscuring the subject manner of the present invention.

The construction of a character recognizing apparatus of the presentinvention is described with reference to FIG. 1. The characterrecognizing apparatus according to the present invention can be mountedon a portable terminal, such as a mobile communication terminal orPortable Media Player (PMP). As shown in FIG. 1, the characterrecognizing apparatus includes a recognition controlling unit 10, acamera 20, a memory 30, a dictionary database 40, a display unit 60, anda key input unit 50.

The camera 20 converts an analog image of a subject received through anobject lens and a finder into digital information using a solid-stateimage capturing device, or the like, according to the control of therecognition controlling unit 10, so as to store the convertedinformation in the memory 30.

The display unit 60 displays various images and data information storedin the memory 30 on a screen under the control of the recognitioncontrolling unit 10. When a camera function is activated, the camera 20is operated so as to execute a preview mode that displays an imagecaptured through the lens on the screen of the display unit 60 in realtime. When the user presses a photo button in a state where a desiredsubject is displayed on a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) of the displayunit 60, the image is captured through the lens of the camera 20, andthe captured image is compressed, to be stored in the memory 30.Further, the display unit 60 displays the character recognition result,character recognition state, or the like.

The key input unit 50 includes number keys, directional keys, orfunction keys corresponding to various functions of the characterrecognizing apparatus and provides the recognition controlling unit 10with key input data corresponding to the key pressed by the user.

The dictionary database 40 stores dictionary information correspondingto various languages.

The memory 30 stores programs for processing and controlling therecognition controlling unit 10, reference data, various renewable datastorage data, or the like, which are provided to the working memory ofthe recognition controlling unit 10. Further, the memory 30 stores imagedata generated by the camera 20.

The recognition controlling unit 10 controls various operations of thecharacter recognizing apparatus, processes the data, recognizes thecharacters according to the present invention, searches the dictionarydatabase 40 using the recognized characters, and provides the user withthe search result.

The operation of the recognition controlling unit 10 is described withreference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 illustrates the operation of the recognitioncontrolling unit 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, if the user requests character recognition, therecognition controlling unit 10 activates the camera 20 in step 101,sets a preview mode, and displays the image photographed through thecamera 20 on the display unit 60 in real time. The recognitioncontrolling unit 10 indicates an input start point on the screen. Theinput start point helps to increase character recognition rate andrepresents a location of the character for recognition on the screen.When the preview mode is set and an image is displayed on the displayunit 60, the user points the lens of the camera 20 to the character. Theuser can adjust the location of the camera 20 so that the character ison the input start point.

In the above procedures, the camera 20 is moved by the user so that thedistance between the camera 20 and the subject character may be changed,causing a loss of focus, and a blur in the image. The blur refers to aphenomenon in which the outlines of the subjects in the image areblurred. It may be impossible to recognize characters in an image withthe serious blur, and a clear image having a certain level must beobtained. Therefore, the recognition controlling unit 10 in the presentinvention controls the auto focus that detects the blur of the imageinput in real time and automatically adjusts the focus in step 103.

The control of the auto focus is illustrated in FIG. 3. The recognitioncontrolling unit 10 obtains the preview image in step 201 and detectsthe blur in step 203. The recognition controlling unit 10 identifies ifthe blur is present in the preview image in step 205 and executes theauto focus in step 209 if the blur is present. However, if the blur isnot present, the recognition controlling unit 10 obtains the previewimage as the image for character recognition in step 207.

In using the blur detecting method, if the outlines of the subjects ofthe current image are not as clear as a predetermined reference value,the recognition controlling unit 10 determines that the blur isgenerated and the focal distance of the current image is incomplete. Therecognition controlling unit 10 then controls the camera 20 so as toexecute the auto focusing. If the outline of the subject included in thecurrent image is as clear as or more clear than the predeterminedreference value according to the blur detecting result, i.e., having aclarity with a value greater than or equal to the reference value, theimage is obtained as the image for recognition. As the recognitioncontrolling unit 10 conditionally executes the auto focusing through theauto focus control, it can rapidly obtain an image for recognition.Contrary to the conventional character recognition in which the specificstill image is stored, the stored still image is read, and then the readstill image is used as the still image for recognition, the previewimage without blur obtained from the preview mode is used for therecognition, in the present invention, so as to decrease the processingtime of the character recognition.

Returning to FIG. 2, the image for recognition is obtained through theabove procedures in step 105 and the recognition controlling unit 10performs the character recognition pre-processing in step 107. In thecharacter recognition pre-processing, the recognition controlling unit10 adjusts the brightness or light intensity of the image, or adjuststhe outlines to be clear for increasing the recognition rate in thecurrently-obtained image for recognition. Then, the recognitioncontrolling unit 10 extracts a Region Of Interest (ROI) including thecharacter.

The recognition controlling unit 10 recognizes the characters using thepre-processed image in which the character recognition pre-processinghas been completed in step 109, and performs a character recognitionpost-processing in step 111. The character recognition post-processingis a kind of pre-processing for the dictionary search, which removesrecognition results capable of being incurred due to misrecognition. Forexample, in recognizing ‘Korea XXX’ (where X is not a character, is adifferent language, symbol, or special character in the input image, theextraction of a character code (i.e. a code serving as a result obtainedthrough recognizing an image by a recognizing apparatus, e.g.arrangement of ASCII) determining that the actual character isaccurately recognized from the recognized result is required. Further,the recognition controlling unit 10 considers characteristics of therespective languages for the recognized characters, to process them,making it possible to obtain the dictionary search result far morerapidly and accurately.

Because the transformation of words in Korean is very complicated, ifprocessing for morpheme analysis or transformation has not been made, itis difficult to obtain an accurate dictionary search result. Forexample, for the word ‘sylphic’, the dictionary generally includes only‘sylph’ or ‘sylphid’. Even though the recognizer accurately recognizes‘sylphic’, the general dictionary does not include every singleformation of the word, so that searching the desired word fails.Further, for the word ‘outputted’, it is possible to obtain a speedyresult when only ‘output’ is searched in the dictionary. Thus, a uniquegrammar rule based on the language should be applied so as to convertthe word enabling a rapid and accurate dictionary search. Further, ifthere is data incapable of being recognized as a number or a languageamong the recognized result data extracted from the pre-processingimage, the null data is removed. An example of the null data includes aspecific symbol, space, etc., and the type or pattern of the null datais previously stored in the memory 30. For example, if the recognizedresult is ‘fan˜tastic!!’, the specific symbols of “˜” and “! !” areremoved in such a manner that the character is reconstructed as“fantastic”. Through these procedures, it is possible to obtain theaccurate characters for the search.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the recognition controlling unit 10 searchesthe dictionary database 40 using the character recognitionpost-processing completed-final recognized character or the combinationof the characters in step 113 so as to display the dictionary searchresult on the display unit 60 in step 115. Accordingly, the characterrow recognized as the word existing in the dictionary can be provided.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the recognitioncontrolling unit 10 combines the final recognized character row into afirst word that includes the maximum number of characters, and searchesthe dictionary database 40 using the combined word. An arrangementsequence of the characters included in the word is not changed withoutthe request of the user. Further, if there is no corresponding word as aresult of a search of the dictionary database 40, the recognitioncontrolling unit 10 searches the dictionary database 40 using a secondword in which one character is removed in the first word. Therecognition controlling unit 10 continuously searches the dictionarydatabase 40 using the word in which one character is continuouslyremoved until the corresponding word is found. The dictionary search iscontinued until only one character remains, i.e. the word including onecharacter is searched, and every search result can be provided to theuser. The sequence of removing the character is predetermined. Further,the sequence of removing characters or the maximum number of charactersof the maximum search word can be set by the user.

For example, if the number of recognized characters is 4 and the maximumnumber of characters of the search word is set as 4, the word including4 characters is first searched. If there is no search result, the searchis performed while decreasing the number of characters one by one. Thatis, if the recognized result is ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ from a beginningposition and the maximum number of characters of the search word is 4,the search is performed with ABCD, ABC, AB, and A in sequence. If asearch result is output during the search, the search can beinterrupted.

As shown in FIG. 4, if the recognized character row is “TONE”, themaximum number of characters is 4, and it is set to provide every searchresult, “TONE” is searched in the first search 301, “TON” is searched inthe second search 303, “TO” is searched in the third search 305, and “T”is searched in the fourth search 307.

The recognized word or other word or character around the character canalready exist in the recognized result. Therefore, in order to avoid theprocess of re-recognizing the neighboring word or character, the rightand left key based on the word or character can be shifted so that thedictionary search can be selectively performed among the currentlyrecognized character row. For example, if the key input of selecting apart of the character row is received from the user in a state where thefinal recognized character row obtained in step 111 is displayed on thedisplay unit 60, the recognition controlling unit 10 can select thecharacter corresponding to the key input and search the word includingthe selected character. As shown in FIG. 5, in a state where the“RUNWAY” is displayed, the user can select only the front part “RUN” byinputting the left/right directional key in step 401 or select only therear part “WAY”. Accordingly, the recognition controlling unit 10performs the dictionary search with respect to the selected word.

Returning to FIG. 2, if the user requests to see the currently displayeddictionary search result in more detail in step 117, the recognitioncontrolling unit 10 proceeds to step 119 so as to provide the detaileddictionary information. Further, if the user requests to re-recognizethe character, the recognition controlling unit 10 returns to step 103so as to repeatedly perform the above steps.

The afore mentioned character recognizing procedure of the presentinvention describes a series of procedures when the user places thecharacter recognizing apparatus on the character to be recognized.However, when the user moves to recognize another character with thecharacter recognizing apparatus, the auto focus and characterrecognizing procedure of the camera are executed and the undesiredresult is displayed, causing unnecessary execution of a camera's autofocus control and recognition. This causes the frame rate of the inputimage of the camera to decrease due to the power consumption andcalculation amount so a camera preview interruption phenomenon, etc.,occurs when the user moves with the camera.

In order to control the afore-mentioned basic operation sequences,according to another embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the preview image isobtained in step 501, and the character is detected for determining ifthe character exists in the currently input image in step 503, so as todetermine the existence of the character according to the result in step505. If the character exists, movement is detected for determining ifthe user shifts the camera through comparing the currently input imageand the previous image in step 507 so as to determine the existence ofmovement in step 509. If there is no movement, i.e., only when the userplaces the camera on the character to be recognized, the auto focusingand recognition are executed in steps 511, 513, 515, 517, 519, and 521in a manner similar to that of FIG. 2. If it is determined that nocharacter exists or movement exists, step 501 of obtaining a camerapreview image is executed again.

In the above embodiment, a case is provided in which the existence of acharacter is determined and movement is also detected. However,depending on the embodiment of the present invention, it can beconstructed such that only the existence of a character is determinedand then the auto focusing and recognizing procedure are executedaccording to the result, or the auto focusing and recognizing procedureare executed only where movement is not detected.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment for determining the existence of thecharacter. As the character has a recognizable size, a boundary valuefor determining the existence of a character can be set as theexperimental value based on the size. Further, an indicator is used thatrepresents the beginning of a character, which enables the user toeasily focus the character. An area in which the number of edges isobtained is selected based on the indicator. Referring to FIG. 7, therecognition controlling unit 10 obtains the preview image in step 601,obtains a character detection area from the preview image in step 603,executes edge filtering in step 605, and calculates the number of edgesin step 607. Further, if the number of edges is greater than or equal tothe boundary value in step 609, it is determined that a character existsin step 611.

In order to more accurately determine movement, it is required todetermine if the actually detected edge is the edge of the character orthe edge of another object. However, if the subject to be recognized bythe user is a document, the user moves the camera near the side of thebook, so that a case where the user places the camera near the side of adocument is assumed for description in the embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a specific embodiment for determining movement. Sinceit is necessary to compare the current image with the previous image fordetermining the movement, the recognition controlling unit 10 storesprevious image frames considering the appropriate performance incomparison with the calculation amount. Further, the recognitioncontrolling unit 10 calculates the value enabling the determination ofmovement through comparing the stored previous image frame with thecurrent image frame and applies the boundary value to the calculatedvalue so as to determine the existence of movement. The boundary valuecan be set through reflecting an appropriate experimental value based ona variable boundary value in which a size of a character included in anarea for determining the current movement is considered. It is possibleto increase the number of previous image frames or reflect the historyof the value for determining movement for a more accurate movementdetermination.

Referring to FIG. 8, the recognition controlling unit 10 obtains thepreview image in step 701, obtains the character detecting area in step703, performs edge filtering in the obtained character detecting area instep 705, and stores the filtering-processed image in step 707. The edgefiltering corresponds to step 605 of FIG. 7. Then, the recognitioncontrolling unit 10 compares the processed images between themost-current frame and its previous frame among the stored images andcalculates the difference between the images in step 709 and calculatesthe movement determination boundary value for determining the movementin step 711. Thereafter, the recognition controlling unit 10 comparesthe calculated difference value with the movement determination boundaryvalue. If the difference value is less than the movement determinationboundary value, it determines that no movement exists so as to performthe next recognition procedure in step 715. If the difference value isgreater than or equal to the movement determination boundary value, itdetermines movement has occurred.

FIG. 9 illustrates a testing result of the afore-mentioned characterarea detection and movement detection. It is possible to determine thetime point with no movement through the comparison of the movementdifference calculated value and the movement determination boundaryvalue. Further, the movement determination boundary value is calculatedin proportion to the number of edges existing in the current characterso that the movement determination boundary value can be more accuratelychanged. A character existence determination value is a value calculatedfor determining the existence of the character in the current image,which refers to an area having a value of 0 in a graph with nocharacter, i.e. refers to a case where the camera is placed on a blankspace around the character or the space of a document. As such, throughcontrolling the general flow of the recognizing apparatus through thedetection of the existence of the characters and movement, it ispossible to recognize characters when the camera is placed on theto-be-recognized visual point or character while maintaining a real-timepreview.

As such, the present invention recognizes the characters in the previewscreen of the camera in real time so as to rapidly and consecutivelyprovide the user with the recognition result. Further, the presentinvention has suggested the error controlling method and pre-processingmethod for improving the recognition rate and the post-processing methodenabling an efficient dictionary search with respect to the recognizedresult. Through the character recognizing method of the presentinvention, characters can be rapidly recognized without deterioratingthe recognition rate. Further, the present invention can detect thedegree of the user's movement and executes the character recognizingfunction during movement so that unnecessary time for recognizingundesired characters are not wasted, thereby providing rapid characterrecognition and dictionary search.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference tocertain preferred embodiments and drawings thereof, it will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form anddetails may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for recognizing a character in aportable device, the method comprising: obtaining, in accordance with acharacter recognition request, an image using a camera of the portabledevice in a preview mode in which a plurality of images are beingsequentially displayed in real time on a display of the portable device;performing an auto focus function of the camera to obtain an imagehaving a certain level of clarity for character recognition using thecamera; character-recognition-processing the image having the certainlevel of clarity so as to generate recognition result data; anddisplaying a recognized character row on the display based on therecognition result data.
 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, whereinperforming the auto focus function of the camera comprises: performingthe auto focus function when a character is identified in the imageobtained in the preview mode.
 3. The method as claimed in claim 2,wherein performing the auto focus function of the camera comprises:determining whether outlines of the identified character are as clear asthe certain level of clarity; determining that blur is present in theimage obtained in the preview mode and performing the auto focusfunction of the camera, when the outlines of the identified characterare not as clear as the certain level of clarity.
 4. The method asclaimed in claim 2, wherein identifying the character in the imageobtained in the preview mode comprises: obtaining a character detectionarea in the image obtained in the preview mode; performing edgefiltering so as to extract a number of edges; and identifying thecharacter, when the extracted number of edges is greater than or equalto a boundary value.
 5. The method as claimed in claim 1, whereinperforming the auto focus function of the camera comprises: comparingtwo or more frames of the image obtained in the preview mode todetermine whether movement exists; and performing the auto focusfunction of the camera, when no movement exists.
 6. The method asclaimed in claim 5, wherein determining whether the movement existscomprises: obtaining a character detection area in the image obtained inthe preview mode; storing an edge filtering-processed image when thecharacter is identified through edge filtering within the characterdetection area; comparing a processed most current frame of the imageobtained in the preview mode with a processed previous frame of theimage obtained in the preview mode; calculating a value according to adifference between the processed images; determining that the movementdoes not exist, when the calculated value is less than a movementdetermination boundary value; and determining that the movement existswhen the calculated value is greater than or equal to the movementdetermination boundary value.
 7. The method as claimed in claim 1,further comprising: combining one or more characters identified throughthe character-recognition-processing of the image obtained in thepreview mode and having a predetermined maximum number of characters asa first word; searching a dictionary database that stores dictionaryinformation on various languages using the first word; and outputting aword corresponding to the first word in at least one of the variouslanguages according to a result of the search of the dictionary databaseusing the first word.
 8. The method as claimed in claim 7, furthercomprising excluding characters from the first word one by one;identifying new words from characters remaining in the first word afterexcluding characters from the first word; searching the dictionarydatabase using the respective new words; and outputting wordscorresponding to the respective new words according to a result of thesearch of the dictionary database using the respective new words.
 9. Themethod as claimed in claim 7, further comprising searching thedictionary database using a selected word having one or more charactersselected by the user from the first word, or selected by the user fromthe one or more characters identified through thecharacter-recognition-processing; and outputting a word corresponding tothe selected word according to a result of a search of the dictionarydatabase using the selected word.
 10. The method as claimed in claim 1,further comprising: identifying a first word from one or more charactersidentified through the character recognition; and outputting a word thatcorresponds to the first word and is in a language other than a languageother than a language of the first word.
 11. A character recognizingapparatus in a portable device, the character recognizing apparatuscomprising: a camera; a display unit for displaying an image obtained,in accordance with a character recognition request, using the camera ina preview mode in which a plurality of images are being sequentiallydisplayed in real time; and a recognition controlling unit forcontrolling display of the image obtained in the preview mode,performing an auto focus function of the camera to obtain an imagehaving a certain level of clarity for character recognition using thecamera, character-recognition-processing the image having the certainlevel of clarity so as to generate recognition result data, andcontrolling display of a recognized character row on the display unitbased on the recognition result data.
 12. The method as claimed in claim11, wherein the recognition controlling unit determines whether outlinesof the identified character are as clear as the certain level of clarityand determines that blur is present in the image obtained in the previewmode and performs the auto focus function of the camera, when theoutlines of the identified character are not as clear as the certainlevel of clarity.
 13. The character recognizing apparatus as claimed inclaim 11, wherein the recognition controlling unit performs the autofocus function of the camera a character is identified in the imageobtained in the preview mode.
 14. The character recognizing apparatus asclaimed in claim 13, wherein the recognition controlling unit, inidentifying the character in the image obtained in the preview mode,obtains a character detection area in the image obtained in the previewmode, performs edge filtering so as to extract the number of edges, andidentifies the character when the extracted number of edges is greaterthan or equal to a boundary value.
 15. The character recognizingapparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein, in performing the auto focusfunction of the camera, the recognition controlling unit compares two ormore frames of the image obtained in the preview mode to determinewhether movement exists, and performs the auto focus function of thecamera when no movement exists.
 16. The character recognizing apparatusas claimed in claim 15, wherein the recognition controlling unit, indetermining whether the movement exists, obtains a character detectionarea in the image obtained in the preview mode, stores an edge filteringprocessed image when the character is identified through edge filteringwithin the character detection area, compares a processed most-currentframe of the image obtained in the preview mode with a processedprevious frame of the image obtained in the preview mode, calculates avalue according to a difference between the processed images, determinesthat the movement does not exist when the calculated value is less thana movement determination boundary value, and determines that themovement exists when the calculated value is greater than or equal tothe movement determination boundary value.
 17. The character recognizingapparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the recognition controllingunit combines one or more characters identified through thecharacter-recognition-processing of the image obtained in the previewmode and having a predetermined maximum number of characters as a firstword, searches a dictionary database that stores dictionary informationon various languages using the first word, and outputs a wordcorresponding to the first word in at least one of the various languagesaccording to a result of the search of the dictionary database using thefirst word.
 18. The character recognizing apparatus as claimed in claim17, wherein the recognition controlling unit excludes characters fromthe first word one by one and identifies new words from charactersremaining in the first word after excluding characters from the firstword, searches the dictionary database using the respective new words,and outputs words corresponding to the respective new words according toa result of the search of the dictionary database using the respectivenew words.
 19. The character recognizing apparatus as claimed in claim18, wherein the recognition controlling unit searches the dictionarydatabase using a selected word having one or more characters selected bythe user from the one or more characters identified through thecharacter-recognition-processing; and outputs a word corresponding tothe selected word according to a result of a search of the dictionarydatabase using the selected word.
 20. The character recognizingapparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the recognition controllingunit identifies a first word from one or more characters identifiedthrough the character recognition, and outputs a word that correspondsto the first word and is in a language other than a language other thana language of the first word.